Generally speaking, there are two ways of making hologram ornamental stickers:
(1) A plurality cutters are made to conform to the contours of different images to be printed, and a series of color images are printed in a row onto a sticker base by a label printing machine. Afterwards, different images on the row are cut out by the corresponding cutter. This method of making hologram stickers causes several problems and has several manufacturer disadvantages, which are: PA0 (2) A method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,681 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,275 uses polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin powder to mix with a plastic binder, preferably Dioctyl Phthalate (DOP). Afterwards, a sticker is formed using the process of screen printing and cooling on the mixture mentioned above. Though a cutter is not necessary, this kind of method still suffers from a series of problems, such as:
(a) High cost of making separate cutters: PA1 (b) Poor alignment of the cutter with the image: PA1 (c) Excessive blank area left outside the edge of the image causes imperfection: PA1 (a) Paper-like base should have temperature resistance up to 200.degree. C., so as to form an adhesive layer for screen printing, which increases the cost of the base having this characteristic. PA1 (b) The adhesive of the adhesive layer should have a temperature resistance from 150.degree. C. to 180.degree. C. without damage. However, when the temperature is up to 100.degree. C., the adhesive of the adhesive layer currently used is damaged. To overcome this deficiency, the manufacturer has to use DOP with a high proportion of rubber therein, which increases the cost. PA1 (c) When mixing the PVC resin powder with the DOP, poisonous HCL(G) gas is generated which is dangerous to the workers. PA1 (d) The color printing layer composed of the mixture of the PVC, DOP and colors should also have a temperature resistance up to 150.degree. C. to 180.degree. C., because when the screen printing is processing the color printing layer, the layer needs to be heated up to 150.degree. C. to 180.degree. C. During the process of heating the layer, poisonous HCL(G) is still generated and colors of the cooled PVC resin layer melt and mix with other colors resulting in defects in the image. PA1 (e) The rate of heating and cooling to the color printing layer in process is slow and is not cost-effective.
Since each of the cutters is specially made to conform to the contours of each of the different images, it is impossible to use only one cutter to cut out different images. Therefore, only one cutter is suitable for one particular image, which increases the cost if the manufacturer is going to produce a lot of different hologram stickers. PA2 Because the cutter is made to conform to the contour of the image printed onto the sticker base, the size of the cutter does not always precisely replicate the size and shape of the image. Furthermore, when the cutter is in operation, defects to the sticker product will easily occur if the cutter is not in precise alignment with the image, which can also cause damage to the cutter. PA2 To prevent miscutting the image by the cutter, a large portion outside the contour of the image is left blank or the size of the cutter is enlarged, which does not present the most beautiful appearance of the image.
From the previous description, it is noted that conventional methods of producing ornamental hologram stickers do not meet the users' needs. Thus, the inventive method for producing ornamental hologram stickers presented tends to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.